Untimely miscues hurt as struggles continue

ST. LOUIS -- The Reds' last trip to St. Louis, three weeks ago, culminated in a rare series win at Busch Stadium, just their fourth series victory in their last 29 trips to the Gateway City.
The Reds have fallen on hard times recently, and Friday's series opener, a frustrating 7-5 loss to the Cardinals that featured a rough start from Tim Adleman, a bad baserunning mistake by Eugenio Suárez and a comeback attempt that fell short, extended their losing skid to four games.
"I gave it everything I had, and for the most part kept the team in the game," Adleman said. "Those last couple runs, that was big tonight. It's a tough loss."
The Reds (10-13) have now lost eight of their last nine games and 11 of their last 14 after a strong start.
Adleman (0-1) had allowed just three runs over 10 innings in his first two appearances but was tagged for six runs (five earned) on eight hits over 5 1/3 innings. The Cardinals (12-11) scored three runs in the third and three more in the sixth.
"I felt fine, just didn't have anything," he said. "No command. Breaking ball was pretty spotty. The changeup for the secondary pitch wasn't as good as I would have hoped. I was pretty pleased with the effort through five. Obviously those tack-on runs in the sixth are not what you want."
Reds manager Bryan Price offered a more favorable review of his righty.
"He threw the ball over the plate," Price said. "He had a really good fastball-changeup combination going. They took advantage of the few mistakes he made. But overall I was pleased with the way he threw the ball."

Cincinnati, which led 1-0 in the second after Scott Schebler's eighth home run of the season, had a chance to cut into the lead in the sixth inning off Lance Lynn (3-1).
The Reds loaded the bases with two-out singles from Suarez and Schebler and a walk from Devin Mesoraco. But Suarez took a few steps off third base, following Mesoraco's walk, and was picked off by Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina to end the inning.
"I wasn't paying attention and you've got to pay attention, especially with that guy," Suarez said. "He's good."
The Reds rallied for four runs in the eighth inning -- on Joey Votto's two-run home run and Scooter Gennett's two-run double -- but couldn't cut the deficit any more when Cardinals closer Seunghwan Oh entered the game and got Billy Hamilton to fly out to center field for the final out. Oh then retired the Reds in order in the ninth for his sixth save.